Vol. 01 · Classroom Practice a brainstorming companion PYP · VTR · UDL · 7 Cs
A teacher's working reference —

The Teacher's
Toolkit.

Toggle, expand, scan. A single place to brainstorm across the PYP stages of inquiry, Visible Thinking Routines, Universal Design for Learning, and the 7 Cs — plus lesson scaffolds and classroom principles. Click any framework to open its stages. Click any stage to explore its strategies.

Framework 01

The PYP Stages of Inquiry

7 Stages · 120+ strategies

Get learners engaged, assess what they already know, and raise the questions that will drive the inquiry.

  • Quick write —have students jot down what they already know about the topic.
  • Entrance / exit slip —ask students to write a question or something they want to learn.
  • Gallery walk —post images or quotes around the room; students circulate and notice.
  • KWL column one —capture what learners already Know to benchmark growth later.
  • Sticky-note wonderings —each student posts one question onto a shared wall.

Provide rich first-hand and second-hand sources so students can collect the evidence they need.

  • Annotated bibliography —learners log each source with a brief summary.
  • Think-pair-share —partners compare findings and surface questions.
  • Graphic organizer —KWL, concept map, or matrix to capture information as it's gathered.
  • Research journal —daily short reflections on what was learned and from where.

Students identify patterns, make connections, and process what they've discovered across modalities.

  • Mind map —connect ideas, identify patterns and themes.
  • Jigsaw activity —expert groups on sub-topics teach the whole class.
  • Small-group discussion —students compare findings and articulate insights.
  • Sorting cards —physically group information under student-generated categories.

Use insights to generate new questions, perspectives, and creative problem-solving opportunities.

  • Debate —groups argue different perspectives or solutions.
  • Project proposal —students outline an investigation or experiment.
  • Collaborative writing —pairs/small groups produce a short essay or report.
  • Design challenge —an open brief with success criteria students co-construct.

Help learners draw concepts together, relate ideas to their lives, and articulate generalisations.

Create authentic opportunities for learners to choose, commit, and act on their learning.

Reflection runs through every stage, but deserves dedicated space to consolidate and look ahead.

  • Exit slip —one thing learned plus one lingering question.
  • One-minute paper —sixty seconds of unfiltered reflection.
  • Self-assessment rubric —learner judges growth against co-constructed criteria.
  • Two stars and a wish —two things that went well plus one next step.
Framework 02

Visible Thinking Routines

Harvard Project Zero

Best for tuning in: surfacing ideas, activating curiosity, and making initial thinking visible.

  • See-Think-Wonder —describe what you see, interpret what it makes you think, then ask what it makes you wonder.
  • Think-Puzzle-Explore —what do you think you know? what questions puzzle you? how might you explore them?
  • Chalk Talk —a silent written conversation around a prompt on paper or board.
  • 3-2-1 Bridge —three words, two questions, one metaphor — then compare before and after learning.
  • Compass Points (NEWS) —Needs, Excites, Worries, Stance / Suggestion — for new ideas or proposals.
  • Zoom In —reveal portions of an image progressively to build interpretation.

Best for sorting out and making connections — structure, compare, and name relationships.

  • Headlines —write a newspaper-style headline that captures the core of the learning.
  • Connect-Extend-Challenge —how does this connect to what you knew? how does it extend? what challenges you?
  • CSI: Color-Symbol-Image —represent an idea non-verbally with a colour, a symbol, and an image.
  • Generate-Sort-Connect-Elaborate —build a concept map from brainstormed ideas.
  • The 4 Cs —Connections, Challenges, Concepts, Changes — especially good after a text.
  • I Used to Think… Now I Think… —track how thinking has shifted.

For going further — critical thinking, perspective-taking, and evidence-based reasoning.

  • Claim-Support-Question —make a claim, support it, raise questions that remain.
  • Step Inside —adopt a perspective; describe what the person/thing perceives, knows, cares about.
  • Circle of Viewpoints —brainstorm all possible viewpoints on an issue, then speak from one.
  • Tug of War —consider reasons on both sides of a dilemma, marking their strength.
  • Peeling the Fruit —layered map from observations → wonderings → interpretations → essence.
  • Red Light, Yellow Light —identify signs that give you pause or concern in a text or argument.

Close the loop — name what changed, what remains, and what's next.

  • I Used to Think… Now I Think… —explicitly surface shifts in understanding.
  • What Makes You Say That? —prompt for justification at any moment.
  • +1 Routine —add one piece, question, or connection to a peer's reflection.
  • Micro Lab —timed turns of sharing, questioning, and reflecting in trios.
  • Sentence-Phrase-Word —pick a sentence, phrase, and word that captured the essence of a text.
Framework 03

Universal Design for Learning

3 Principles · 9 Guidelines

Tap into interest, sustain effort and persistence, and develop self-regulation.

  • Offer meaningful choice and autonomy in tasks and tools.
  • Connect learning to authentic, culturally relevant contexts.
  • Minimise threats and distractions; predictable routines, safe risk-taking.
  • Make goals and success criteria salient and visible.
  • Vary demands and resources to optimise challenge — not too easy, not overwhelming.
  • Foster collaboration and community through structured peer tasks.
  • Use mastery-oriented feedback that is specific, timely, and growth-focused.
  • Teach learners to set personal goals and track progress.
  • Scaffold coping strategies for frustration and setbacks.
  • Develop self-assessment and reflection as routine practice.

Present information in flexible formats so every learner can perceive and understand it.

  • Offer alternatives for auditory info (captions, transcripts, visual supports).
  • Offer alternatives for visual info (descriptions, tactile graphics, read-aloud).
  • Customisable display: font size, contrast, colour, volume, pacing.
  • Pre-teach and clarify vocabulary and symbols.
  • Support decoding, idioms, syntax, and multiple languages.
  • Illustrate concepts across multiple media — diagrams, video, manipulatives, text.
  • Activate prior knowledge and build background systematically.
  • Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships.
  • Guide information processing, visualisation, and transfer to new contexts.

Give learners varied ways to navigate, express understanding, and plan their learning.

  • Vary methods of response and navigation — voice, keyboard, touch, movement.
  • Provide access to assistive technologies and tools.
  • Use multiple media for expression — text, speech, drawing, film, comic, model.
  • Offer graduated scaffolds for practice and performance — sentence stems, exemplars, checklists.
  • Build fluencies through ongoing feedback and mastery-oriented assessment.
  • Guide appropriate goal-setting and planning strategies.
  • Support managing information and resources — templates, organisers.
  • Enhance capacity for monitoring progress — rubrics, self-check, conferencing.
Framework 04

The 7 Cs of Effective Teaching

Care · Confer · Captivate · Clarify · Consolidate · Challenge · Control
  • Notice struggling students and offer individualised support without drawing attention.
  • Give immediate, encouraging feedback on effort as well as outcome.
  • Model empathy and patience; invite peer support structures.
  • Provide safe, private routes for learners to ask for help or flag confusion.
  • Use think-pair-share, elbow partners, and small-group talk routinely.
  • Build in peer-marking and structured feedback conversations.
  • Ask open questions; wait time of 5-7 seconds before calling on anyone.
  • Let students confer before they confirm — reduce the cost of being wrong out loud.
  • Open with a hook — a short video, mystery object, startling statistic, or provocation.
  • Use the body: X/O signals with arms, stand/sit for agree/disagree, movement breaks.
  • Build games and playful challenges into practice (e.g. Uno adding, card sorts, bingo).
  • Vary pace and modality every 10–15 minutes to keep attention alive.
  • Think aloud — narrate your own reasoning so students hear how the expert moves.
  • Use visual cues, hand signs, colour coding, and worked examples.
  • Surface misconceptions early and treat them as teaching opportunities, not errors.
  • Check understanding frequently with exit tickets, mini whiteboards, or cold-call.
  • End lessons with a brief reflection that names the "big idea" or takeaway.
  • Use self-checking answer stations so students confirm and refine their own thinking.
  • Weave in spaced review — revisit key ideas across days, not just within a lesson.
  • Have students teach back, summarise in their own words, or produce a one-liner.
  • Offer extension menus, stretch questions, and high-ceiling tasks for fast finishers.
  • Ask "why?" and "what if?" to push from procedure to reasoning.
  • Introduce friendly competition — beat the teacher, beat your time, beat yesterday.
  • Name and celebrate productive struggle; praise process, not just correctness.
  • Clear, consistent routines for transitions, materials, and voice levels.
  • Use structured participation — popcorn, cold-call, randomisers — so one or two voices don't dominate.
  • Positively narrate the behaviours you want to see rather than the ones you don't.
  • Hold high expectations calmly and without sarcasm; repair quickly when things slip.
Framework 05

A 40-Minute Lesson, Mapped to the 7 Cs

Worked example · Maths
ClarifyControl
  • Clarify —explain each problem clearly, reinforcing past concepts and addressing misconceptions as they arise.
  • Control —keep it structured with clear guidelines; use popcorn-style turns so everyone participates in an orderly way.
CaptivateChallenge
  • Captivate —have students use their bodies (X or O with arms) to keep it dynamic and fun.
  • Challenge —pose questions that push students toward the upcoming lesson's key concepts.
CaptivateClarify
  • Captivate —use a student-friendly clip that grabs attention and relates directly to today's concept.
  • Clarify —follow up with a brief discussion to ensure students see why it matters for today's learning.
ChallengeClarifyConfer
  • Challenge —racing the teacher encourages quick, confident thinking.
  • Clarify —as you race, explain tricky steps on the board so students can follow your thought process.
  • Confer —after the race, let students discuss answers with peers and clear up any doubts.
ClarifyConferCaptivate
  • Clarify —present clearly with visual cues, hand signs, and plain explanations.
  • Confer —build in pair or group shares to reinforce the material through talk.
  • Captivate —add hands-on activities or quick checks to keep attention high.
CareConferConsolidateChallenge
  • Care —support struggling students through individual help or guided peer assistance.
  • Confer —let students mark each other's work and talk through answers.
  • Consolidate —encourage learners to check their work against answers on the back table.
  • Challenge —offer extension tasks for early finishers to deepen their learning.
ChallengeCaptivate
  • Challenge —an Uno adding game provides an extra layer of difficulty for those who've mastered the core task.
  • Captivate —keep it fun and engaging while reinforcing key mathematical skills.
ConsolidateCare
  • Consolidate —students reflect on and apply what they've learned in a brief, meaningful way.
  • Care —offer immediate, encouraging feedback so learners leave with a sense of achievement regardless of correctness.
Framework 06

Guiding Principles

The why behind the how

The primary goal is to foster greater academic independence — achieved through structured systems and engaging activities that build a growth mindset. The teacher challenges and motivates so learners take ownership of their journey.

  • Break skills into manageable steps and show real applications.
  • Use standards as the framework for building complexity — a ladder where students sit on different rungs.
  • Differentiate through varied materials, processes, or products with different degrees of scaffolding.
  • Demonstrate transfer through problem-solving activities and real-world scenarios.
  • Thematic play activities provide hands-on learning and reinforcement.
  • Curriculum integrates standards-based instruction so foundational skills are systematically introduced.
  • Differentiated experiences meet individual needs while building toward self-directed, intrinsically motivated learning.
  • Cooperative learning groups, peer mentoring, and structured discussions.
  • Collaborative interactions scaffold understanding based on standards.
  • Varied modes between peers model degrees of mastery; exemplars, rubrics, and checklists support giving and receiving help.
  • Encourage teamwork and problem-solving through different roles and responsibilities.
  • Accommodate varied proficiency and learning styles via different expectations for content, process, and product.
  • Include debates, presentations, and peer feedback so learners engage at their level of readiness.
  • Guided instruction → collaborative practice → independent application builds confidence and fluency.
  • Differentiation ensures appropriate support and challenge along the standards continuum.
  • Allow students to test mastered skills before introducing new complexity (SOLO taxonomy as a reference).
  • Pre-assessment —a task mixing knowledge, skills, and concepts to surface where learners are starting from.
  • Formative —every activity yields some level of formative information through student engagement.
  • Summative —designed with low and high flyers in mind so everyone can demonstrate growth.
  • Introduce the profile attributes as markers of well-rounded thinkers.
  • Name the attributes when you see them — in students, in staff, and in characters from texts.
  • Recognise and celebrate specific actions so learners see which traits are valued.
  • Deliver content in integrated ways that build on previously taught skills, concepts, and knowledge.
  • Create classroom systems with predictable structures so students can focus creative energy on new expectations.
  • Vary content, process, and product inside those familiar frameworks to maintain novelty without chaos.
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